SAIL's Rs 1,200-crore Universal Rail Mill (URM) will take Bhilai Steel Plant's total capacity to produce rails at 2.0 MTPA,which will be the largest rail production capacity in anysingle location for a plant world over.
Steel Minister ChaudharyBirender Singh inaugurated the new Universal Rail Mill at Steel Authority of India Ltd's (SAIL) Bhilai Steel Plant today and flagged off the first rake from the new mill, a press release said.
With this,SAILhas begunthecommercial production of world's longest single railof 130 metersfrom the new Universal Rail Mill(URM).
Singh congratulated SAIL collective for commencing productionfrom URMand said that, "it is ahugestep towards the Make in Indiainitiative, where the country is pioneering in production of such quality products.
The country needs to be self sufficient in meeting its specific requirements and products like the longest rails will solidify industry confidence.
"The state-of-the-art URM, established ata cost of about Rs 1200 crore will now take BSP's total capacity to produce railsat2.0 million tonnes per annum (MTPA),which will be the largest rail productioncapacityin anysingle location for a plantworldover.
Alongside the URM, which ispart of the plant's modernisation and expansion programme (MEP),a long rail welding complex had also been set with proven technology for world class rail welding.
The complex is equipped with fully automated flash butt welding machine to weld railpanels of260-metre length and fully automated long rail handling facility.
ThisURM complexwould equipSAILto meet Indian Railways'specific demand of 260 metre rails as the new millis capable of producing260 metre long rail with a single weldandalsohas theprovision to supply welded panels up to520 metre length in future.
The rails rolled from this new URM will enable SAIL to producerails with improved surface quality, less residual stressandimprovedstraightness.
Speaking at the occasion SAILChairman, PK Singh said that, "This URM complexwiththe latest technology will empowerSAILto meet the specific needs of Indian railways with greater efficiency and finesse.
In the challenging market scenario, we expect to offer better solutions for specialised needs of our valued customers.
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